The New Cookery Books

II
The Cake and Biscuit Book

THE
NEW COOKERY BOOKS.

By ELIZABETH DOUGLAS.

Fcap. 8vo, cloth, 2s. each.

I.
THE SOUP AND SAUCE BOOK.
II.
THE CAKE AND BISCUIT BOOK.
III.
THE PASTRY AND SWEET BOOK.

The
Cake and Biscuit Book

By
Elizabeth Douglas

London
Grant Richards
48 Leicester Square
1903

Preface

The recipes in this book are English, French, Portuguese and Dutch; while some of the best come from America, which is the true land of cakes. All are good: the best I have starred.

Amateur cooks should know that for cakes to be successful it is almost imperative that they are made and baked by the same person. Delegation too often means ruin, the bond of sympathy between maker and baker being only in very rare instances sufficiently close to defeat the imp of mischief that lurks in every oven.

Lastly, I might say that the eggs cannot be too fresh, nor the butter too pure; and molasses is better than treacle.

E. D.

Table of Contents

General Directions for Cake-Making

Utensils.—Use earthenware bowls and wooden spoons for mixing.

Several sets of tins are necessary if cake is to be made often. One or two ordinary round tins, a tin with a hollow tube in the centre, square tins, and shallow round tins about 8 inches in diameter for jam sandwich and layer cakes, should be kept. A small dripping-pan is very good to bake gingerbread in, and for very light cakes the German tin with a loose bottom should be used. These tins are excellent, for the bottom can be pushed up, away from the sides, and there is no danger of the cake being broken in taking it out of the tin. They can be bought at Harrod’s Stores, Brompton Road.

Measuring.—Flour, sugar, salt, ground spices, soda, must always be sifted before measuring. This is of the utmost importance in making good cakes.

A cup is a breakfast-cup holding half a pint. The spoons are the silver ones in general use.

A spoonful of dry material is one in which the convexity at the top corresponds to the concavity of the spoon. A scant spoonful should be made level with the edges of the spoon.

In measuring half a tea-spoon of dry material, fill it first, and then divide it with a knife long-ways down the spoon.

A “heaping cupful” is a cup filled as full as it will hold. A “cupful” should be levelled. A “scant cupful” should not be filled above about quarter of an inch from the top.

It is necessary to remember in measuring half or quarter cups that a cup is smaller at the bottom than the top. It is more satisfactory measuring to have half-pint measures marked into quarters.

Table of Measures

4 cups flour = 1 quart or 1 lb.
2 cups of butter (solid) = 1 lb.
2¹⁄₂ cups powdered sugar = 1 lb.
1 cup = ¹⁄₂ pint
1 glass = ¹⁄₂ pint
1 pint milk or water = 1 lb.
9 large eggs = 1 lb.
1 table-spoon butter = 1 oz.
1 heaping table-spoon butter = 2 ozs.
Butter the size of an egg = 2 ozs.

Baking Powder.—Baking powder can be used in the making of most cakes. In some however the proportion of carbonate of soda and cream of tartar of which it consists is not right, in which case the two ingredients should be used separately according to the directions. Almost invariably soda should be mixed with milk or water, which should then be strained in order to keep back any dregs. Cream of tartar should be mixed with the flour, which should then be sifted. Both cream of tartar and soda should be pulverized before they are measured or used.

Baking powder can be bought, or made as follows:—

1 part carbonate of soda
2 parts cream of tartar

It should be kept in an air-tight tin.

In nearly all cases baking powder is best mixed with the flour, which should then be sifted through a fine sieve.

To clean currants.—Sprinkle the currants with flour, put them on a coarse sieve and rub them until the stems and grit are separated and go through the sieve. Then wash thoroughly in water, changing it until clear. Drain on a towel and pick over. Dry, if the weather permits, in the sun, not in an oven.

To stone raisins.—Pour boiling water over the raisins, and let them stand in it for ten minutes. Drain and rub each raisin between finger and thumb till the seeds come out. Cut open or chop.

Sultanas.—Pick over sultanas carefully, removing the little stems.

To blanch almonds.—Put the almonds into boiling water and let them soak in it until the skins rub off easily between the finger and thumb. Drain and spread out to dry.

To pound almonds.—After blanching let them soak for an hour in cold water, then pound in a good sized mortar until reduced to a soft pulp. Whilst pounding add a few drops of orange-flower water or lemon juice.

Mixing.—There are three ways of mixing. Stirring, Beating, Cutting (or Folding).

To stir.—Let the spoon touch the bottom and sides of the basin and move it round quickly in circles of various sizes. Do not lift it out of the mixture, and work well against the sides.

To beat.—Tip the bowl to one side. Bring the spoon or fork quickly down into the mixture and through it, take it out the other side and bring it over and down again, scraping the sides well each time it goes in.

It is important to keep the bowl of the spoon well scraped out during mixing.

Beat quickly and hard.

To cut or fold.—Turn over the mixture with a spoon and lift it up, folding in the white of egg as lightly as possible. Do not stir or beat but mix very gently until quite blended.

To beat eggs.—It is generally best to beat the yolks and whites separately. For beating them there is nothing better than a Dover egg beater, although a fork can be used for the yolks and a steel knife for the whites.

Beat the yolks in a bowl until they thicken and become light and creamy.

Beat the whites on a platter until they are stiff and absolutely dry.

To beat butter.—In beating butter to a cream, if very hard it can be slightly warmed in the oven or put into a hot bowl, but it must on no account be melted. It should just be softened in order to make it more easy to beat it.

To grease and fill tins.—Tins can be greased with fresh butter, lard or sweet oil. Sides and bottom should be evenly but not thickly smeared with grease.

When a tin is to be lined with paper, cut a piece to fit the bottom exactly, another piece to go right round the sides. This piece should project two or three inches above the top of the tin.

Grease the papers thoroughly before putting them in the tin.

Fill the tins two-thirds full, leaving a very slight depression in the centre if a flat cake is wanted, as the tendency is to rise in the middle.

The oven.—Nearly all cakes should be baked in a moderate oven, and the fire should be so made up before putting a cake in the oven, that it will not have to be touched again until the cake is taken out. If this is impossible, owing to the length of time it takes, add a little coal frequently to the fire instead of letting it down and making it up with a great deal of fuel.

In baking in a gas stove, it is important that there should be no draughts from window or door.

Set the cake in the middle of the oven and do not move it until it has risen its full height, which will take about half the time in which it is baked. For the first quarter of an hour it is not necessary to look at the cake unless there is a fear that the oven is too hot. Afterwards do so occasionally, opening and shutting the oven door very gently and never taking the cake out. After it has fully risen, the cake can be turned round if it is baking quicker on one side than the other.

Do not have anything else in the oven while baking a cake.

For layer cakes and thin cakes make up a larger fire. They should bake quickly.

To test whether a cake is done, put a clean straw or skewer into the thickest part of it. If it comes out clean the cake is done.

To remove cakes from tins.—With a few exceptions cakes should be taken out of their tins directly they come out of the oven. Turn the tin upside down, and, if necessary, loosen the sides with a knife. Set on a sieve to cool.

To all cake mixtures add a little salt, sifting it with the flour in the proportion of a small salt-spoon of salt to every half-pint of flour.

Keep flour and sugar in a dry place, or dry thoroughly before using.

Sponge Cakes

General Directions

In making sponge cakes, beat the yolks till creamy and thick. Add the sugar gradually, beating all the time. Add the flavouring. Beat the whites until perfectly dry and very stiff. Stir them lightly in. Sift in the flour and mix as lightly as possible. Do not beat after the flour is added. Line the tins with greased paper and bake at once.

*American Sponge Cake

³⁄₄ lb. powdered sugar
¹⁄₂ lb. flour
7 eggs
Grated rind of a lemon
3 tea-spoons lemon juice
1 gill cold water

Break the eggs in a basin leaving out the whites of two. Add to the eggs the lemon peel and juice. Boil the sugar and water together until clear. Pour the syrup gently over the unbeaten eggs, and beat quickly and well for fifteen minutes. Sift the flour three times and stir it lightly into the mixture. Bake in square flat tins. Use the whites to make an icing.

Berwick Sponge Cake

6 eggs
9 ozs. powdered sugar
12 ozs. sifted flour
2 even tea-spoons cream of tartar
1 even tea-spoon carbonate of soda
1 lemon

Beat the eggs, yolks and whites together, with the sugar until very light. This should take about half-an-hour. Take half of the flour and sift it gradually into the eggs and sugar. Mix the cream of tartar with a gill of water, and add it to the mixture. Beat for a minute. Add the rest of the flour and the juice and rind of the lemon. Add a little salt. Mix well. Dissolve the carbonate of soda in four table-spoons of hot water. Stir it carefully in. Beat again. Bake in large square or oblong tins in a quick oven.

*Gateau de Savoie

¹⁄₂ lb. powdered sugar
12 yolks of eggs
6 whites ”
1 whole egg
5 ozs. potato flour
5 ozs. finest flour
The grated peel of a lemon and a half

Grate the lemon very finely. Mix it thoroughly with the sugar. Set it where it will become very dry. Dry the flours and sift them.

Beat the yolks, the whole egg and the sugar together until very light and creamy. This should take about half-an-hour. Then sift in the flour and potato flour gently, and beat lightly with a whisk. Add the whites, which should be whisked to a stiff froth. Mix lightly.

Butter a mould and sprinkle powdered sugar in it. Pour the mixture into it gently. Set the mould in a moderate oven, over a tin containing hot ashes, and put a piece of greased paper over the cake. Bake for about an hour.

Milanese Cake

4 eggs
Their weight in sugar
2 ozs. flour
2 ozs. potato flour
Juice and rind of half a lemon
Handful of sultanas

Set aside two whites, and whisk them to a stiff froth. Put the flour and sugar in a basin. Mix them. Make a hole in the centre, break the eggs into it. Mix altogether and beat for quarter of an hour. Add the beaten whites, a large handful of sultanas, and the lemon. Bake three quarters of an hour in a well greased mould in a moderate oven.

*Sponge Cake

4 eggs
Their weight in powdered sugar
The weight of two eggs in flour

Put the sugar (with which should be included several lumps which have been well rubbed on a lemon and then crushed) into a basin and break the eggs on to it. Beat with a steel carving fork until the mixture becomes thick and creamy, which should take from twenty to thirty minutes. Stir in the flour as lightly as possible. Put into a tin lined with buttered paper, and bake at once in a moderate oven.

White Cakes

*Almond Cake—I

1 lb. flour
¹⁄₂ lb. sweet almonds
10 bitter almonds
1 lb. white sugar
8 eggs
1 wine-glass brandy

Blanch and pound the almonds. Beat the yolks and sugar together till light and creamy. Whisk the whites to a stiff froth. Add them to the butter and sugar.

Stir in the flour until thoroughly mixed. Add the almonds. Bake in a tin lined with greased paper, in a moderate oven for an hour and a half.

Almond Cake—II

7 eggs
¹⁄₂ lb. sifted sugar
¹⁄₂ lb. almonds

Blanch and pound the almonds. Beat up the yolks of the eggs for ten minutes. Add the sugar. Beat again thoroughly. Add the almonds. When well mixed add the whites, which should be beaten stiff. Bake in a German tin (see [p. 1]).

*Angel Cake

¹⁄₂ pint fine flour
1 tea-spoon cream of tartar
³⁄₄ pint powdered sugar
11 whites of eggs
3 tea-spoons vanilla

Add the cream of tartar to the flour. Sift five times. Sift the sugar. Beat the whites to a stiff froth. Stir the sugar lightly into the whites of eggs. Add the vanilla. Add the flour. Stir in lightly and quickly. Pour into a clean bright tin. It must not be buttered. Bake in a moderate oven for forty minutes. When done leave in the tin, inverted on its edge (not completely upside down) on a sieve until cold.

Cocoanut Cake

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
4 whites of eggs
1 small cup milk
1 tea-spoon baking powder
¹⁄₂ small cocoanut grated

Beat the butter and sugar to a cream. Sift the flour with the baking powder. Add it to the mixture gradually moistening it with the milk. When thoroughly mixed add the grated cocoanut. Beat for ten minutes. Stir in the whites beaten to a stiff froth very lightly. Bake immediately in a buttered tin in a moderate oven.

*Cocoanut Pound Cake

¹⁄₂ lb. butter
1 lb. sifted flour
1 lb. powdered sugar
2 tea-spoons baking powder
1 tea-spoon grated lemon peel
¹⁄₄ lb. grated or desiccated cocoanut
4 eggs
1 cupful milk

Beat the butter to a cream. Add the sugar. Beat again. Add the sifted flour (in which the baking powder has been mixed), well-beaten eggs and milk alternately in small quantities. Stir all well together. Add the cocoanut and lemon peel. Beat well together.

Use shallow square tins. Butter them and line as well with buttered paper. Pour the mixture in to the depth of an inch and a half. Bake in a quick oven. Ice while hot and set back in the oven for a moment to dry.

Dutch Almond Cake

1 lb. sweet almonds
¹⁄₂ oz. bitter almonds
1 lb. powdered sugar
12 eggs
5 table-spoons pounded biscuit or flour
Rose water

Blanch and pound the almonds, adding to them a little rose water. Beat up the yolks. Add them to the sugar and beat thoroughly together. Then add the whites, whisked to a stiff froth, and the pounded almonds. Add the finely crushed biscuits or flour. Bake in a moderate oven in a German tin lined with greased paper.

Eversley Cake

5 ozs. butter
6 ozs. best flour
3 eggs
5 ozs. castor sugar
¹⁄₂ tea-spoon baking powder
¹⁄₄ lb. mixed peel

Beat the butter to a cream. Add the sugar, then the flour, and well-beaten eggs, the sliced peel and lastly the baking powder. Beat altogether for twenty minutes and bake in a good oven for an hour.

Lady Cake

1 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
3 cups flour
¹⁄₂ cup milk
Whites of 8 eggs
2 tea-spoons cream of tartar
1 tea-spoon carbonate of soda
1 tea-spoon extract of almonds

Beat the butter to a cream. Stir in the sugar gradually, beating hard all the time. Mix the cream of tartar with the flour, and the soda with the milk. Add flour and milk alternately in small quantities, beating continually. Add the flavouring, and then stir in the stiffly-beaten whites lightly. Bake in a moderate oven in a tin lined with greased paper.

*Potato Flour Cake

1 lb. butter
11 eggs
1 lb. sugar
1 lb. potato flour
1 wine-glass rum

Soften the butter. Then beat it until very light and creamy. Add to it alternately one whole egg, one table-spoon flour, one table-spoon sugar, beating well between each addition. When about half the materials are used add the rum. Add the rest of the ingredients alternately as before. From first to last the cake should be beaten for an hour. Bake in a buttered tin for one hour and a half to two hours.

*Pound Cake—I

1 lb. butter
1 lb. powdered sugar
10 eggs
1 lb. flour
¹⁄₂ wine-glass sherry
¹⁄₂ wine-glass brandy

Cream the butter. Add the sugar and well beaten yolks. Beat thoroughly. Add the flour and wine, beating all the time. Stir in the whites, which should be whisked to a stiff froth. Bake in three or four small well greased tins in a moderate oven, as this cake is always lighter if baked in small tins. Crystallised cherries halved are an excellent addition to a pound cake. They should be thoroughly mixed in the cake before the whites are added.

Pound Cake—II

1 lb. flour
1 lb. eggs
1 lb. sugar
³⁄₄ lb. butter
1 glass brandy

Beat the butter and half of the flour until light and creamy. Add the brandy. Beat the yolks thoroughly and add them alternately with the stiffly beaten whites and the rest of the flour. Beat all together for half-an-hour. Bake in two tins in a moderate oven for about an hour.

*Rice Cake—I

6 yolks
3 whites
Grated peel of one lemon
4 ozs. flour
¹⁄₂ lb. ground rice
¹⁄₂ lb. powdered sugar

Beat the yolks and whites separately. Add the grated rind to the yolks. Beat again and add the whites. Mix well. Mix the flour, rice and sugar together. Add the eggs gradually, beating continually for about an hour. Bake in a tin lined with greased paper in a slow oven for about an hour.

Rice Cake—II

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2¹⁄₄ cups rice flour
6 eggs
Juice and grated rind of a lemon

Beat the butter and sugar to a cream. Add the well beaten yolks and the flour. Beat thoroughly for five minutes. Add the lemon juice and rind and the stiffly beaten whites.

Bake in shallow square tins in which the depth of the mixture when poured in is less than two inches.

Bake thirty-five to forty-five minutes in a moderate oven.

Rice Cake—III

4 ozs. butter
2 eggs
4 ozs. powdered sugar
4 ozs. ground rice
6 ozs. flour
1 tea-spoon baking powder

Beat the butter to a cream and add the sugar. Beat the eggs till creamy and light, and add them with the flour (in which the baking powder should be mixed) and ground rice. Add a little milk and a few drops of essence of lemon or vanilla. Bake in a moderate oven for three quarters of an hour.

*Snow Cake

1 lb. arrowroot
¹⁄₂ lb. powdered sugar
¹⁄₂ lb. butter
Whites of six eggs
Vanilla or lemon flavouring

Beat the butter to a cream. Stir in the sugar and beat well again. Add the arrowroot, beating all the time vigorously. Whisk the whites to a stiff froth. Add them to the mixture. Beat all together for twenty minutes. Add a little vanilla or the juice or rind of a lemon. Bake in a buttered mould in a moderate oven for from one hour to one hour and a half.

*White Cake—I

1 cup butter
3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup milk
5 cups sifted flour
1 tea-spoon carbonate of soda
2 tea-spoons cream of tartar
Whites of twelve eggs
1 tea-spoon vanilla

Beat the butter to a cream. Add the sugar. Beat well. Add the soda to the milk and the cream of tartar to the flour. Add flour and milk to the mixture, beating hard all the time. Beat the eggs to a stiff froth. Add them and the vanilla. Bake in two tins lined with greased paper. The oven should be slow at first, then moderate.

White Cake—II

3 cups sugar
¹⁄₂ cup butter
1 cup sweet milk
2 tea-spoons cream of tartar
1 tea-spoon carbonate of soda
3 cups flour
Whites of four eggs

Mix as for the first receipt.

*White Cake—III

3 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup milk
3 cups flour
1 cup corn starch
12 whites of eggs
2 tea-spoons cream of tartar
1 tea-spoon carbonate of soda

Mix the cream of tartar thoroughly with the flour and dissolve the soda in half of the milk. Stir the cornflour in the rest of the milk until perfectly smooth.

Beat the butter and yolks together until creamy. Add the corn starch paste. Stir it well in. Add the milk and soda and the flour. Beat the whites to a stiff froth and stir in lightly. Bake in two papered tins in a moderate oven.

Layer Cakes and Fillings

General Directions

The tins for these cakes should be about 8 inches in diameter with a very shallow rim. They should be kept perfectly clean, and before being used should be slightly warmed and well greased with butter, lard or good sweet oil.

Three layers are sufficient for a cake. They should not be thick.

Cool each layer when baked on a perfectly flat surface and spread with the filling when cold.

Layer Cake—I

3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
Butter size of an egg
1 cup flour
1 even tea-spoon baking powder

Beat the butter and sugar to a cream. Add the well beaten yolks and then the flour, in which the baking powder has been thoroughly mixed. Beat the whites till stiff.

Bake in three round shallow buttered tins in a moderate oven. When cold, place one round on a large plate and spread it with jelly, jam or other filling. Cover it with another round and spread this. Ice the top. If jam is used it should be beaten or warmed a little in order that it may spread more easily.

Layer Cake—II

¹⁄₂ lb. butter
5 eggs
6 ozs. flour
2 ozs. cornflour
¹⁄₂ lb. powdered sugar
1 tea-spoon vanilla
2 table-spoons sherry

Beat butter to a cream. Add sugar gradually, beating all the time. Then add the yolks, the flour and corn starch. Beat the whites to a stiff froth. Add them and the flavourings to the mixture. Bake in three tins for fifteen minutes, in a moderately quick oven.

Layer Cake—III

8 ozs. sugar
5 eggs
¹⁄₄ lb. butter
1 tea-cup milk
12 ozs. flour
1 tea-spoon baking powder

Beat the sugar with the eggs for fifteen minutes. Melt the butter and add it. Beat again very thoroughly. Add the baking powder to the flour and sift it. Add it and the milk to the mixture, beating continually.

Layer Cake—IV

6 eggs
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 heaped table-spoons butter
¹⁄₃ cup milk
2 tea-spoons cream of tartar
1 scant tea-spoon carbonate of soda

Beat the yolks and whites separately. Add the sugar to the yolks. Beat thoroughly. Add the butter, which should be softened but not melted. Dissolve the soda in a tea-spoon of boiling water. Add it to the milk. Sift the cream of tartar with the flour. Add the flour and milk to the mixture and then the whites. Bake in a moderate oven in shallow round tins.

Almond Cream Filling

1 lb. sweet almonds
1 small cup cream
2 table-spoons corn starch
Powdered sugar to taste

Cook the corn starch for ten minutes in as small a quantity of milk as is possible. Blanch the almonds and pound them to a paste. Beat the cream. Mix the almonds, cream and corn starch together and beat thoroughly. Add the powdered sugar.

Chocolate Filling—I

3 whites of eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup grated chocolate
Vanilla

Beat the white of eggs slightly. Mix all well together.

Chocolate Filling—II

5 table-spoons grated chocolate
¹⁄₂ cup cream
1 cupful sugar
1 egg
1 tea-spoon vanilla

Beat the egg well. Add it to the chocolate and cream. Stir over the fire till thoroughly mixed. Flavour with vanilla.

Cocoanut Filling—I

¹⁄₂ cup cream
¹⁄₂ cup grated cocoanut
¹⁄₂ cup powdered sugar

1. Beat the cream slightly. Add the sugar and cocoanut.

2. Add a small cup of finely grated cocoanut to some plain icing (see [p. 65]).

Cocoanut Filling—II

¹⁄₂ cocoanut
Whites of three eggs
1 cup powdered sugar

Grate the cocoanut. Add it with the sugar to the whites beaten to a stiff froth.

Cream Filling—I

1 pint milk
2 eggs
3 table-spoons sifted flour
1 cup powdered sugar

Cook the flour, mixed smooth, in a little milk for ten minutes. Add it to the milk in which the eggs (or yolks only) have been beaten up. Put all in an enamel saucepan. Add the sugar. Stir continually but take off before it boils. Add flavouring.

Cream Filling—II

¹⁄₂ cup cream
2 table-spoons powdered sugar
Flavouring

Whip the cream. Add the sugar and a very little flavouring.

Fig Filling

1 lb. figs
1 tea-cup water
¹⁄₂ tea-cup sugar

Chop the figs finely. Cook them with the water and sugar until soft and smooth.

Fruit Filling

4 table-spoons citron
4 ” raisins
¹⁄₂ cupful chopped almonds
¹⁄₄ lb. chopped figs
3 whites of eggs
¹⁄₂ cup sugar

Chop the citron and stoned raisins very fine. Chop the almonds and figs. Beat the whites to a stiff froth. Add the sugar. Mix together thoroughly. Add the other ingredients.

Orange and Cocoanut Cream Filling

1 egg
1 cup whipped cream
¹⁄₂ cup powdered sugar
1 cup grated cocoanut
Juice of one orange
Grated rind of half an orange

Mix all together.

Strawberry Cream Filling

¹⁄₂ pint cream
¹⁄₂ cup powdered sugar
¹⁄₄ oz. gelatine
1 cup mashed strawberries

Whip the cream. Set it on ice. Add the sugar to the strawberries. Mash them. Mix them with the cream. Dissolve the gelatine. Add it carefully to the cream and strawberries. Stir over the ice until the cream begins to set. Leave the mixture on the ice until the cake is ready to serve. Spread it thickly between each layer.

Californian Fig Cake

1 cup sugar
¹⁄₂ cup butter
1 cup flour
¹⁄₂ cup cornflour
¹⁄₂ cup sweet milk
Whites of three eggs

Filling

¹⁄₂ lb. almonds
6 ozs. figs
¹⁄₂ cup seeded raisins
2 ozs. citron
1 egg
1 glass white wine

Beat the butter to a cream. Add the sugar and beat again. Sift the flours together. Add them and the milk. Beat very well and add the whites beaten to a stiff froth. Bake in two shallow tins in a quick oven.

For the filling. Chop all the ingredients very finely together. Mix them with the egg and wine. Spread in a thick layer between the two cakes.

*Coffee Cake

7 ozs. flour, sifted and dried
¹⁄₂ lb. powdered sugar
7 ozs. butter
1 table-spoon potato flour
7 eggs
2 table-spoons brandy

Beat the butter to a cream. Add the sugar and beat well again. Beat up the yolks, add them and the flour, in which the potato flour should be mixed, to the butter and sugar. Stir in the brandy. Mix all well together. Beat the whites to a stiff froth and stir in lightly. Bake in a mould with a tube in centre.

Cream

Whites of four eggs
¹⁄₂ lb. powdered sugar
¹⁄₂ wine-glass extract of coffee
¹⁄₂ lb. butter

Beat the whites to a stiff froth. Sift in the sugar. Add the coffee extract. Beat the butter to a cream. Add the mixture to it and mix well with a wooden spoon.

Cut the cake across, when cold, into several sections, spread the cream between each layer. Put together neatly. Fill the hollow in the centre with the cream, and spread it all over the cake.

Fruit Layer Cake

1 cup sugar
¹⁄₂ cup butter
1¹⁄₂ cups flour
¹⁄₂ cup wine
1 cup stoned and chopped raisins
2 eggs
¹⁄₂ tea-spoon soda

Cream the butter. Add the sugar. Beat well. Add the flour, the well beaten yolks, and the wine gradually, beating all the time. Dissolve the soda in a very little hot water. Add it to the mixture, and the raisins chopped and floured. Stir in the wine and the whites beaten to a stiff froth. Bake in a moderate oven in three shallow round tins. Put plain icing between each layer.

*Jam Sandwich—I

2 eggs
Their weight in flour and powdered sugar
A little less than their weight in butter
1 small tea-spoon baking powder

Beat the butter to a cream. Add the eggs well beaten, then the sugar and flour and, lastly, the baking powder. It is an improvement if the sugar includes four or five lumps of sugar which have been well rubbed on a lemon and then crushed. Bake in two shallow buttered tins (about 8¹⁄₂ inches) in a moderate oven, about fifteen minutes. When cold spread one round with jam. Place the second round on it. Press it lightly down and sift powdered sugar over it.

Jam Sandwich—II

1 egg
Its weight in butter, sugar, flour and ground rice
1 tea-spoon milk
¹⁄₂ tea-spoon baking powder

Beat the butter and sugar together. Add the unbeaten egg, then the flour, ground rice, milk and, lastly, the baking powder. Bake in two shallow well-buttered round tins (8 inch) for ten to fifteen minutes. Proceed as above.

Lemon Layer Cake

10 eggs
1 lb. sugar
¹⁄₂ lb. flour
2 lemons
1 orange
1¹⁄₄ lb. icing sugar

Beat the yolks well together. Add seven whites beaten until stiff, the sugar, the rind of two lemons and the juice of one. Bake in separate layers in a moderate oven.

Beat the remaining whites (3) and add to them gradually the icing sugar. Set aside sufficient to ice the outside of the cake. To the rest add the juice of the orange and half of the rind grated. Wait until the cake is nearly cold and then spread the layers with the mixture.

Add a little lemon juice to the icing for the top and sides and spread it on as thickly as possible.

Ribbon Cake

1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
3 cups flour
1 table-spoon baking powder
1 cup milk
1 tea-spoon vanilla
1 tea-spoon mixed mace and cinnamon
1 cup stoned and floured chopped raisins and currants
1 table-spoon molasses or treacle
1 dessert-spoon brandy

Beat the butter to a cream. Add the sugar. Add the well beaten yolks and beat all together thoroughly. Add the flour (with which the baking powder has been thoroughly mixed) and the milk. Beat the whites to a stiff froth. Stir them lightly into the mixture. Add the vanilla.

Divide the mixture into three parts. To one part add the spice, raisins, currants, molasses and brandy. Mix thoroughly.

Bake the three parts on separate shallow, round or oblong tins for half-an-hour in a moderate oven. When cold spread a layer of light cake with plain icing or red-currant jelly. Put the layer of dark cake over it. Ice this layer or spread jelly on it and cover with the second layer of light cake. Press lightly together and trim.

Swiss Roll

2 eggs
Their weight in powdered sugar
3 ozs. flour
1 small tea-spoon baking powder

Break the eggs on to the sugar. Beat until light and creamy. Add the flour gradually, beating continually. Stir in the baking powder. Bake in a large flat tin which should be thoroughly greased. Spread the mixture over it and bake quickly for seven to ten minutes. Turn out at once on to a board on which sugar has been sifted. Spread with jam and roll.

Various Cakes

Buttercup Cake

³⁄₄ cup butter
1¹⁄₂ cups sugar
Yolks of eight eggs
1 whole egg
¹⁄₂ cup milk
2 cups flour
¹⁄₂ tea-spoon carbonate of soda
1¹⁄₂ tea-spoons cream of tartar
Juice and grated rind of half a lemon

Cream the butter. Add the sugar. Beat thoroughly. Beat the eggs till light and frothy. Add to the butter. Dissolve the soda in the milk. Mix the cream of tartar with the flour. Add milk and flour to the mixture, beating well continually. Add the lemon juice and rind. Bake in two greased tins in a moderate oven until the cake shrinks from the sides.

*Chocolate Cake—I

9 ozs. butter
7 ozs. chocolate powder
9 ozs. sugar
5 eggs
6 ozs. flour

Mix the chocolate powder (which should be of the finest quality) with the butter. Beat for a quarter of an hour. Add the sugar and beat again. Beat the yolks and whites separately. Add the yolks, then the flour, beating well all the time. Add the stiffly beaten whites. Bake in a tin lined with greased paper in a moderate oven for an hour.

*Chocolate Cake—II

4 ozs. powdered chocolate
4 ozs. castor sugar
4 ozs. butter
3 eggs
2¹⁄₂ ozs. flour
1 small tea-spoon baking powder

Put the chocolate into the oven to warm. Cream the butter and sugar. Beat the eggs until light and creamy. Add them to the butter and sugar. Then stir in the warmed chocolate and mix thoroughly. Sift the flour and baking powder together and add gradually, beating hard all the time. Beat for ten minutes. Bake in a tin lined with greased paper in a quick oven for an hour.

*Chocolate Cake—III

¹⁄₂ lb. butter
12 eggs
¹⁄₂ lb. powdered sugar
¹⁄₂ lb. pounded almonds
4 ozs. powdered chocolate
1 salt-spoon crushed cloves and mace

Beat the butter to a cream. Add the yolks gradually, beating continually. Add the pounded almonds, sugar, chocolate and spices. Beat altogether for twenty minutes. Add the whites whisked to a stiff froth. Bake in a German tin (see [p. 1]) lined with greased paper, in a very moderate oven for an hour and a quarter. Ice when cold.

Gold Cake

1 lb. sugar
¹⁄₂ lb. butter
1 lb. flour
Yolks of ten eggs
Grated rind of one orange
Juice of two lemons
1 tea-spoon carbonate of soda

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the yolks. Beat hard for five or six minutes. Add the flour. Dissolve the soda in a very little hot water. Stir it thoroughly into the mixture. Add the lemon and orange flavouring. This flavouring should be prepared beforehand by putting the grated orange peel to soak for half-an-hour in the lemon juice, which should then be strained off through fine muslin. Bake in greased tins. Ice with orange icing (see [p. 68]).

Marbled Cake

1 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
3 cups flour
4 eggs
1 cup sweet milk
1 tea-spoon baking powder
1 heaping table-spoon grated chocolate
1 dessert-spoon milk

Cream the butter. Add the sugar. Beat well. Add the well-beaten eggs and the flour, in which the baking powder should be mixed. Take out a tea-cup of the mixture and add the chocolate and the milk to it.

Butter a tin and fill it to the depth of an inch with the white mixture. Drop two or three spoonfuls of chocolate mixture on to this in circles and spots. Add another layer of the white mixture and on to it drop more of the brown, and so on until both mixtures are finished.

Nut Cake

1¹⁄₂ cups sugar
¹⁄₂ cup butter
2 cups flour
³⁄₄ cup milk
Whites of four eggs
1 cup broken nuts
2 tea-spoons baking powder

Cream the butter. Add the sugar. Beat well. Mix the baking powder with the flour. Add it to the mixture with the milk, beating well all the time. Mix in the nuts thoroughly. Lastly add the whites, which should be beaten as stiff as possible. Bake in shallow square tins. Ice.

*Shortbread—I

1 lb. flour
¹⁄₂ lb. butter
3 ozs. sugar

Knead all together until smooth. Roll out an inch thick. Prick all over with a fork. Bake quickly in shallow buttered tins.

*Shortbread—II

¹⁄₂ lb. flour
¹⁄₂ lb. sugar
¹⁄₂ lb. butter
4 eggs
2 ozs. comfits
Grated rind of a lemon

Beat the butter to cream. Add the flour, sugar and eggs alternately in small quantities. When thoroughly mixed, add the grated rind and mix again lightly. Pour into a greased oblong tin (the mixture should be about an inch and a half deep). Sprinkle the comfits over the surface. Do not allow the cake to colour deeply in baking.

*Walnut Cake

¹⁄₂ lb. butter
¹⁄₂ lb. sugar
4 eggs
4 ozs. flour
4 ozs. pounded dry walnuts

Cream the butter. Add the sugar. Beat well. Beat the yolks and whites separately. Add the yolks to the cake. Mix the flour and the walnuts, which must be pounded as fine as possible. Add to the mixture. Stir in the whites. Bake in a shallow square tin. Ice.

Fruit Cakes

General Directions

In making fruit cakes always mix the fruit thoroughly with a little of the flour before adding to the cake.

Mix the spices with the sugar or flour.

For directions for cleaning currants, stoning raisins, and blanching almonds (see [pp. 3 and 4]).

Black Cake

(Wedding Cake)

10 ozs. butter
¹⁄₂ lb. powdered sugar
¹⁄₂ lb. flour
6 large eggs
1 gill brandy and sherry mixed
¹⁄₂ grated nutmeg
1 tea-spoon cinnamon
¹⁄₄ tea-spoon mace
1 ground clove
¹⁄₂ lb. finely chopped almonds
1 lb. currants
1¹⁄₂ lbs. raisins

Beat the butter to a cream. Add the powdered sugar. Beat again very thoroughly. Stir in quarter of a pound of flour. Beat the eggs together until light. Add them and the rest of the flour to the mixture alternately. Beat well. Add the brandy, sherry and spices. Add the currants, raisins and peel, which should all be well floured, gradually, mixing thoroughly. Bake in two tins lined with greased paper, in a moderate oven, for four hours. Let the cakes cool in the tins. This cake, if iced first with almond icing (see [p. 67]), and then with plain icing (see [p. 65]), is suitable for a wedding cake.

Cider Cake

1 cup of sugar
¹⁄₂ cup butter
1 egg
¹⁄₂ pint cider
1 level tea-spoon carbonate of soda
2 cups flour
1 cup stoned raisins

Beat the butter and sugar to a cream. Add the well beaten egg and the flour. Dissolve the carbonate of soda in a table-spoon of boiling water. Add it to the cider. Stir it into the mixture. Beat well together. Add the raisins. Bake in a moderate oven in a buttered tin.

*Currant Cake

¹⁄₂ lb. sugar
¹⁄₂ lb. butter
6 eggs
³⁄₄ lb. flour
³⁄₄ lb. currants
¹⁄₄ lb. sultanas
¹⁄₄ lb. mixed peel
¹⁄₄ lb. ground almonds
1 heaping tea-spoon baking powder

Beat butter and sugar for twenty minutes. Then add the eggs one at a time, beating hard all the time. Add the flour and fruit and mix thoroughly. Bake in a well greased tin in a moderate oven for about three hours. Leave in the tin to cool.

Fruit Cake—I

¹⁄₂ cup butter
1¹⁄₂ cups powdered sugar
3 cups flour
Yolks of four eggs
¹⁄₂ cup milk
1 tea-spoon cream of tartar
¹⁄₂ tea-spoon carbonate of soda
1 wine-glass brandy
1 cup raisins
1 cup currants

Beat the butter to a cream. Add the sugar and beat well. Add the yolks and beat again. Dissolve the soda in the milk and sift the flour and cream of tartar together. Add the milk and flour alternately to the mixture. Stir in the brandy and the fruit and mix well. Bake in two greased tins in a moderate oven.

*Fruit Cake—II

2 scant cups butter
3 cups dark brown sugar
4 cups sifted flour
6 eggs
1 lb. raisins
1 lb. currants
¹⁄₂ lb. citron, finely chopped
¹⁄₂ cup molasses or treacle
¹⁄₂ cup sour milk
¹⁄₂ grated nutmeg
1 table-spoon ground cinnamon
1 tea-spoon ground cloves
1 tea-spoon ground mace
1 wine-glass brandy
1 level tea-spoon soda

Beat butter and sugar to a cream. Add the spices, molasses and some milk. Stir all well together. Beat the yolks and whites of the eggs separately. Add the yolks and the brandy. Beat thoroughly. Add the flour and stiffly beaten whites alternately. Dissolve the soda in a little water. Add it to the mixture. Mix the fruit together with two table-spoons of flour. Stir it thoroughly into the mixture.

Line two tins with greased paper. Bake in a moderate oven two hours. Let it cool in the pan.

*Genoa Cake

10 ozs. sifted flour
8 ozs. sugar
8 ozs. butter
6 ozs. finely cut peel
4 ozs. chopped almonds
12 ozs. sultanas
5 eggs
1 tea-spoon baking powder

Beat the butter to a cream. Add the sugar. Drop in one egg at a time, beating hard all the time. Add the fruit and almonds and lastly the flour. Mix very well. Bake in an oven which is rather quick at first, then moderate.

Imperial Cake

1 lb. powdered sugar
1 lb. flour
³⁄₄ lb. butter
¹⁄₂ lb. chopped almonds
¹⁄₂ lb. chopped citron
1 lb. raisins
¹⁄₂ grated nutmeg
10 eggs
1 wine-glass brandy

Beat the butter to a cream. Add the sugar. Beat again. Beat the yolks. Add them to the mixture. Add the flour gradually, beating hard continually. Add the fruit, chopped almonds, nutmeg and brandy, and the whites beaten to a stiff froth. This cake will keep a year.

Pitcaithley Bannock

1 lb. flour
¹⁄₂ lb. butter
2 ozs. blanched almonds
2 ozs. candied orange peel
2 ozs. sugar
2 ozs. carraway seeds or comfits

Melt the butter and mix it with the flour, which should have been dried and sifted. Slice the almonds and cut up the orange peel finely. Add them with the sugar to the flour and butter. Mix very well. Bake in a slow oven for an hour.

*Seed Cake

1 lb. butter
³⁄₄ lb. powdered sugar
1 lb. flour
6 eggs
³⁄₄ oz. carraway seeds
1 wine-glass brandy

Beat the butter to a cream. Add the sugar. Beat well together. Beat the whole eggs and brandy together until very light. Add them and the flour alternately to the mixture, beating well, and then the carraway seeds. Bake in a greased tin in a moderate oven.

Simnel Cake